The Relative Efficiency of Skilled Labor across Countries: Measurement and Interpretation

Federico Rossi ()

No 829, 2019 Meeting Papers from Society for Economic Dynamics

Abstract: This paper studies how the relative productivity of skilled and unskilled labor varies across countries. I use both micro-data and other sources for countries at different stages of development to document that the skill premium varies little between rich and poor countries, in spite of large differences in the relative skill supply. This pattern is consistent with the view that the relative productivity of skilled workers is higher in rich countries. I propose a methodology based on the comparison of labor market outcomes of immigrants with different levels of educational attainment to discriminate between technology and unobserved human capital as drivers of these patterns. I find that human capital quality plays a minor role in explaining cross-country differences in relative skill efficiency.

Date: 2019
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ure
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